Short 330

The Short 330 is a museum piece in airline terms, and its fatal record is short. Up to 7 October 2026 it has one fatal passenger accident in about 1.6 million passenger flights, a rough estimate for a type that flew most of its life before modern tracking. That accident, Olympic Aviation at Samos in 1989, was a navigation error in cloud near mountains. Three other fatal events were cargo or military flights.

What the Short 330 is

Short Brothers in Belfast developed the 330 from its small Skyvan freighter. It first flew in 1974 and entered service in 1976 as a 30-seat commuter aircraft. The design is simple: a square, unpressurised fuselage, a strut-braced high wing, twin tail fins and two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprops. The box shape gave passengers rare headroom for a small aircraft, and it earned the 330 and its successor the nickname "the Shed". Short built 136, including military C-23 Sherpa freighters with a rear ramp, before the stretched Short 360 took over.

Where it flew, and where it is now

The 330 was a commuter workhorse in the late 1970s and 1980s. Small US airlines, many feeding the big carriers, flew it in the Northeast. In Europe, Olympic Aviation used it on Greek island routes and Gill Air flew it in northern England. Thai Airways had it on domestic routes. Pressurised designs such as the Saab 340 and the Dash 8 pushed it out of passenger service.

About 5 remain in service. Most of the late flying was cargo, especially small parcels and mail in the US, and government work such as the US Forest Service's Sherpas. A scheduled passenger seat on a 330 is now very hard to find.

The counted accident

On 3 August 1989 an Olympic Aviation 330 named "Isle of Milos" was approaching Samos. The crew were flying by sight in cloud, strayed about 4 nautical miles off the airway, and while turning for the approach hit Mount Kerkis, about 1,430 m high and covered in cloud. All 34 on board died. Nothing in the record points to the aircraft; it was a classic controlled flight into terrain.

What else is in the record

Our methodology excludes three fatal events:

• 16 July 1992: a US Air Force JC-23A on a military test flight snap-rolled during a planned stall with one engine shut down and crashed, killing 3.
• 25 May 2000: a Streamline Aviation mail flight entered the runway at Paris-Charles de Gaulle while an MD-83 was taking off, and the airliner's wing cut through its cockpit. One pilot died. Investigators found the controller had misjudged the positions, and radio in mixed French and English left the crew unaware.
• 5 May 2017: an Air Cargo Carriers crew at Charleston, West Virginia, chose a circling approach against company rules and struck the runway wing-first in a steep bank. Both pilots died.

Many of the 21 civil write-offsHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary involved no flying at all: about half were aircraft destroyed while parked. Of those that were flying, a 1993 Québec government flight to Umiujaq shows the type's weak spot: ice on the wing leading edges raised the stall speed, the pilot made a steep turn low over rising ground, and the aircraft stalled and crashed. All 13 on board survived.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show the ICAO code SH33. The twin tail fins set it apart from the single-fin 360. If you are offered a seat on one, it will be with a small charter or government operator, and that operator's record matters more than the type's.